Evolving USA Rugby Part 1: Build The Youth

Evolving USA Rugby Part 1: Build The Youth

A core foundation of any strong culture is the youth, and with rugby it's no different.

Oct 16, 2019 by Alex Rees
Evolving USA Rugby Part 1: Build The Youth

It didn't take a genius to watch any of the USA's four World Cup matches and observe that the other teams are more experienced than we are. 

This could be attributed to the fact that many Americans don't pick up a rugby ball until later in their lives, generally high school or college. 

Youth rugby in America has certainly seen an improvement in quality over the past decade, but it's not been nearly enough to shrink the gap significantly between us and the rest of the world. 

How can we begin to fix that?

More game time

A primary issue is that only a few select areas have rugby as an option for kids, and the ones that do are often through a limited number of schools. When there are more teams in more areas, kids will get increased opportunities to play competitive matches growing up. 


At the end of the day, that's what rugby is all about. The training, the culture, the camaraderie —  they're all great facets of the wonderful game, but at the end of the day, what gets people hooked is the actual sport itself. 

When the youth start getting exposed to more competition, start playing more minutes, they'll fall in love with rugby in no time. 

In countries like New Zealand or South Africa, rugby is woven into the culture immediately. Youngsters learn to love the sport right away. 


Think about basketball, football, or baseball. Kids in America don't play those sports because they think that one day they can get rich and famous. They play them because they're FUN. Having fun is all that kids want to do, and a by-product of having fun with something is that you'll do it more often, and thus get better at it. 

The point is that getting more opportunities to play will in-turn help kids to develop a greater passion for the sport, and ultimately a greater ability to succeed. 

So we need more volunteers


The work to expose the game to more youngsters is not going to happen by itself. It's going to take a concerted and dedicated effort from us within the community to make it happen. 

Getting more coaches and more referees certified is a step. Whatever we can do to grow the sport, we should. There are plenty of wonderful volunteers out there putting in the hard yards to carry the game forward, but in a nation of more than 325 million people, we need more!


Let's work together to introduce rugby to more areas, where more kids can get a chance to play and develop a penchant for the sport. As they say, "Rome wasn't built in a day, but each brick was laid with attention and care."

Brick by brick, Americans can construct a culture of rugby that breathes through all ages.